First of all, why don't you introduce yourself to those of us who don't
already know you?

I'm an independent filmmaker who's trying to 'break through' and be noticed in
what is the toughest industry on the planet. I'm the writer/director (and
sometimes co-producer) on the low budget movies Visions of Violence (2007),
Hollywood (2007), Knock 'Em Dead, Kid (2009), and Cahuenga
Pass (2010).
And I'm looking to step it up and create a much more polished effort my next
go round.

Your latest feature is called Knock 'Em Dead, Kid. In a few
words, what is it about?

Knock
'Em Dead, Kid, made for just about $3,000, is about Bret, a 19-year-old
who's trying to make it through the summer, without too much trouble,
before heading off to college. However, Bret puts himself in certain
situations - messing around with a girl, while also trying to hide it
from his long-term girlfriend and participating a revenge-style assault
that could bring forth charges - and derail his long term plans. It is
available for purchase or rental on amazon.com so everyone can check it
out and see for themselves what you can do with $3,000 (and tons of
problems during production and post-production) - http://www.amazon.com/Knock-Em-Dead-Kid/dp/B002ORZS4K!

Knock 'Em Dead, Kid

To an extent, Knock 'Em Dead, Kid
is a coming-of-age film. Is it in any way autobiographical?

I would say that about 75% is semi-autobiographical and 25% is made up.
What is real and what isn't? To quote Trish from Knock 'Em Dead, Kid -
'I'll never tell.'

Other
sources of inspiration?

A huge source of inspiration on Knock is the 1979 movie Over the
Edge. That along with Boyz N the Hood and Mean Streets in terms of
telling a story based on where you're from and what you've experienced.

What can you tell us about audience reception?

Audience
reception varies. What's interesting is how some people can look at it
and understand it was made for $3000 and judge it on that. Others will
then compare it to the multi-million dollar films at the multiplex and
dismiss it. Numerous critics have reviewed it and those can be found on
the imdb site: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1408384/externalreviews.

The movie won an
award at the Twin Rivers Media Festival and for that I am forever
grateful as they could see what it was I was trying to say and then
judge it based on that.

Cahuenga Pass

After Knock 'Em Dead, you made the featurette Cahuenga Pass.
A few words about that one?

Cahuenga Pass is about a girl, who works in the adult entertainment industry
in Los Angeles, and her relationship with her abusive boyfriend. It's lyrical
and dreamlike as we follow Stacy around her world.

The film is to an
extent based on true events, right? Would you like to elaborate on that?

To
an extent it was based on true events. It was inspired by many different
events including the suicide of porn star Savannah (in '94) and the
overdose of porn star Haley Paige (in '07). Both cases still have a lot of
mystery surrounding them as do the short, tumultuous lives of these young
women.

Other
sources of inspiration for Cahuenga Pass?

Bob
Fosse's Star 80 and the Def Leppard song
Photograph were also
instrumental in my preparations for the script.

Why
did you choose the short format for Cahuenga Pass, and did it ever
occur to you to extend the story to feature length?

Cahuenga Pass came about after a bad
experience with a failed feature film project. I wanted to 'right the
ship' so to speak and I wanted to make something - so I pulled out an LA project I had originally planned to make with three different
storylines, of which Cahuenga was one, and made just the one story as
a short. I tweaked it a little and just started auditioning a week or so
after the story was set to go.

Visions of Violence

Heading
back into the past: What can you tell us about your first feature Visions
of Violence?

Certainly
those who have seen it will tell you it's an odd movie. Visions of
Violence> is a reality-mockumentary, some is real and some isn't. It's a
very weird project that came together in the winter of 2005-2006. It's a
video diary that uses many different formats (VHS, Mini DV, Super 8mm
film, stills, audio) and it has some great dialogue, some great moments
where the characters really get into some strange yet interesting
conversations. I'm in it and I play myself, most of the cast play
themselves. But because of the strange nature of the movie - you either
like it or you don't - there is absolutely no middle ground. But one has
to remember that I consider it my student work along with 'Hollywood.'
This was made before I went to NYFA and before Hollywood. It was an
experiment that 'kind of' succeeded.

Hollywood

A few words about your short Hollywood?

Hollywood was a lot of fun to make and to me is still a lot of fun to
watch. I had the best time making that movie and it's the one movie of
mine that I could watch at anytime.

The movie Hollywood is about a Detective who's getting ready to leave
Los Angeles as he's working on one last case - that of a missing girl
who's come to the big city to make it big, only to end up in the San
Fernando Valley making adult videos.

Hollywood

Because this was my thesis at the New York Film Academy, I had the time
to plan a lot of shots and really take my time with the project.

Any
other films you'd like to talk about, any future projects?

Right now I'm trying to get my latest
script funded, it's entitled Teenage
Kicks and there has been a lot of
interest in it from the acting community. They see it as it is - a real
showcase for actors. Teenage Kicks is a script about
Kurt, who is home for the summer after his first semester away at
college. During the course of a long, hot summer, he learns that for
every action there is a consequence. Between his rendezvous with an
underage girl and the information he'll be receiving from a girl from
his past, his life will be changed.

I'm
also in the process of editing Walk of
Fame which is the final movie
in my Hollywood-trilogy that started with
Hollywood and continued
with Cahuenga
Pass. As I'm editing, I have so much footage that I'm
not sure if I should go the short or feature route. Time will tell on
that one.

How and why did you get into the
film industry in the first place, and did you recieve any formal education
on the subject?

I was really into movies as a kid
always watching The Movie Channel and HBO. After high school, I attended
a local university, got my grades up, and I got into USC - the
university but not the film school. Over time I realized there was no
way I could afford USC so I set out to write myself in to Hollywood. I
ended up getting a formal education when I had a screenplay optioned by
a producer in LA and after that failed deal and numerous encounters with
other producers and managers - I decided to learn more of the technical
side and that's how I ended up at NYFA in 2007.

After my time at NYFA (New York Film Academy) came the experience of making my feature
Knock 'Em Dead,
Kid,
which was a heck of a learning experience.

Directors who inspire you?

Brian DePalma,
Paul Schrader, John Carpenter, and Walter Hill. They all made some classic
films during America's last golden age of filmmaking (1967-1982).

Your
favourite movies?

Apocalypse Now,
The Long
Riders,
Body Double,
Dressed to
Kill,
Blow Out,
Assault on Precinct
13,
Hardcore,
American Gigolo,
Jaws, the list goes on and on...

... and of course, films you really
deplored?

Most films, even
the bad ones have some kind of merit or entertainment value except for 2
that I've run across: Americathon (1979) and the remake of
The
Amityville Horror (2005) - those two I detest and will never, ever waste
my time watching again.